Registration and Courses

During each semester of the academic year, a graduate student should not register for more than 15 credit hours of graduate courses, i.e., the 60000- through 90000-level courses. In the summer session, a graduate student should not register for more than 10 credit hours.

Courses numbered 60000–69999 are typically first-level graduate courses. Qualified advanced undergraduates may be admitted to these classes with the permission of the instructor and the approval of the chair. Courses numbered 70000 and above are advanced graduate courses, open only to graduate students who have completed the prerequisites.

A limited number of advanced undergraduate courses numbered 40000–59999 may, with the approval of the department chair and the Graduate School, be taken to satisfy some of the graduate credit requirements. Departments may place additional constraints on the use of 40000–59999 level courses to meet their degree requirements.

No graduate credit is allowed for courses below the 40000 level.

A student may add courses through the first seven class days of the semester. A student may add courses after this time only on recommendation of the department and with approval of the Graduate School.

A student may drop courses at their discretion through the first seven class days of the semester. To drop a course after this period and up to the midsemester point (see the Graduate School calendar for the exact date), a student must have the approval of the chair of the department offering the course, of their adviser, and of the Graduate School; however, no tuition adjustment will be made after the seventh class day of the semester. A course may be dropped after the midsemester point only in cases of serious physical or mental illness. Courses dropped after this period will be posted on the student’s permanent record with the grade of W.

A course taken for credit can be changed to an audit course after the midsemester point only in cases of serious physical or mental illness.

Listed below are graduate grades and the corresponding number of quality points per credit hour.

Quality point values are used to compute the student’s GPA. The GPA is the ratio of accumulated earned quality points to the accumulated earned semester credit hours. GPA computation takes into account only those grades earned in Notre Dame graduate courses by students with graduate status at Notre Dame. For courses taken in a department or college in the University, but outside the Graduate School, or taken outside the University, the grade will not be included in the GPA computation.

The grades of C- and D are not awarded in the Graduate School.

A student receives the temporary grade of I when, for acceptable reasons, he or she has not completed the requirements for a 60000- or higher-level graduate course within the semester or summer session. No grade of I can be given for courses below the 60000 level or to graduating students in the final semester or final summer session of a terminal degree program.

The student then must complete the coursework for a grade prior to the beginning of the final examination period of the next semester in which the student is enrolled. If a student receives an I (Incomplete) for a summer session course, he or she must complete the coursework for a grade before the final examination period begins for the next semester or summer session (whichever comes first) in which the student is enrolled.

The University temporarily computes this grade as the equivalent of an F in calculating the GPA. When the student fulfills the above requirements, the I is replaced by the new grade. Faculty will be given 30 days from the last day of classes to turn in the grade change form to the Graduate School. Should the student not complete the coursework as required, the I will convert to an F on the transcript.

The department and the Graduate School will review a student who receives more than one I in a semester or an I in two or more consecutive semesters, to determine his or her eligibility for continued support and enrollment.

The grades of S and U (Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory) are used in courses without semester credit hours, as well as in research courses, departmental seminars, colloquia, workshops, directed studies, field education, and skills courses. These courses, if given the grade of S, do figure in a student’s earned semester credit-hour total but do not figure in the computation of the GPA. A grade of U will not count toward the student’s earned semester credit-hour total, nor will it figure in the computation of the GPA.

A department may accept coursework completed at another accredited university toward meeting its degree requirements. A student may transfer credits earned at another accredited university only if (1) the student is in degree status at Notre Dame; (2) the courses taken are graduate courses appropriate to the Notre Dame graduate program and the student had graduate student status when he or she took these courses; (3) the courses were completed within a five-year period prior to admission to a graduate degree program at Notre Dame or while enrolled in a graduate degree program at Notre Dame; (4) grades of B (3.0 on 4.0 scale) or better were achieved; and (5) the transfer is recommended by the department and approved by the Graduate School.

These five requirements also apply to the transfer of credits earned in another program at Notre Dame.

The University considers a request for credit transfer only after a student has completed one semester in a Notre Dame graduate degree program and before the semester in which the graduate degree is conferred. The university of origin must submit two transcripts directly to the Notre Dame Graduate School. Credits not earned on the semester system, such as trimester and quarter-hour credits, will be transferred on a pro rata basis.

A student transferring from an unfinished master’s program may not transfer more than six semester credit hours into either a Notre Dame master’s or Ph.D. program.

If the student has completed a master’s or Ph.D. program, he or she may transfer up to nine semester credit hours to a Notre Dame master’s program and up to 24 semester-credit hours to a Notre Dame Ph.D. program.

Occasionally, a student may need to do dissertation research at another institution. Normally, the student would register for the appropriate number of credit hours of research at Notre Dame. If the student does not enroll at Notre Dame and expects to count research hours earned elsewhere toward the Notre Dame degree, the student must have the approval of the department and the Graduate School in advance. The University requires similar prior approval for formal courses taken elsewhere and applied to the degree program. Twenty-four credit hours, including research credit hours, is the maximum acceptable for transfer into a Notre Dame doctoral program.

No grades of transferred courses are included in the student’s GPA.